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LegalZoom Satisfaction Guarantee Details:

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If you want to exchange the product you ordered for a different one, you must request this exchange and complete your replacement order within 60 days of purchase. The purchase price of the original item, less any money paid to government entities, such as filing fees or taxes, or to other third parties with a role in processing your order, will be credited to your LegalZoom account. Any payments made directly by you to attorneys affiliated with our legal plans or attorney-assisted products are not eligible for exchange or credit. Any price difference between the original order and the replacement order or, if a replacement order is not completed within 60 days of purchase, the full original purchase price (in each case less any money paid to government entities or other third parties) will be credited to the original form of payment. If you paid for your original order by check, LegalZoom will mail a check for the applicable amount to your billing address.

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Copyright FAQ

The owner of a copyright has the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

Reproduce the work

Prepare derivative works based on the work

Distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, such as by rental, lease or lending

Perform the work publicly. This applies to literary, musical, dramatic and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works

Display the copyrighted work publicly. This applies to literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work

A copyright protects original works of authorship. This could include lots of things, such as: books, movies, songs, dances, architecture, and software code.

Your work is protected by a copyright the moment it is created, but to get the full power of a copyright, you must register your copyright with the US Copyright Office. This creates an official, public record of your copyright. If you ever need to sue to protect your work, a registered copyright will be a huge benefit.

Copyright doesn’t protect ideas, systems or methods but it may protect the way those things are expressed. If it isn’t fixed in a tangible form such as having been written down, sculpted, built, or recorded – it cannot be protected by copyright.

What about slogans, logos, and titles?

If used to identify a brand in commerce, a trademark is usually required to protect these assets. In general, if a slogan, logo, or other asset creates a connection between a customer and a company, it is a trademark.

LegalZoom can help you register a copyright or apply for a trademark. Answer a few questions about your work and send us a copy of it and we’ll file the paperwork for you. Our copyright and trademark team will support you the entire way, and we can even get you in touch with an independent attorney as part of our legal help plans.

For these works, copyright protection will endure for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.
In the case of a joint work, the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death.
For anonymous and pseudonymous works and works made for hire, the term will be 95 years from the year of first publication or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever expires first.

Works Originally Created Before January 1, 1978, but not Published or Registered by that Date:

For works created but not published or registered before January 1, 1978, the term endures for life of the author plus 70 years.
In no case can a term have expired earlier than December 31, 2002.
If the work was published before December 31, 2002, the term will not expire before December 31, 2047.

Works Originally Created and Published or Registered Before January 1, 1978 and in their renewal term:

Although the general rule is that the person who creates the work is its author, there is an exception.
A "work made for hire" is a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment.
It can also apply to a work ordered or commissioned in certain specified circumstances. When a work qualifies as a work made for hire, the employer or commissioning party is considered to be the author and owns the copyright to the work.
Copyright to a work made for hire is 95 years from its creation.

The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood.
Copyright is secured automatically when a work is created.
A work is "created" when it is fixed in a tangible form for the first time.
For example, a song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music, phonograph disks or both. No publication, registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright.
There are, however, definite advantages to registration, including the ability to sue for infringement.

A copyright owner can transfer rights. However, any exclusive transfer is not valid unless it is in writing and signed by the owner or the owner's authorized agent. Transferring a right on a nonexclusive basis does not require a written agreement.

A copyright may also be given through a Last Will.

Copyright is a personal property right. This means it is subject to state laws and regulations that govern the ownership, inheritance or transfer of personal property as well as terms of contracts or conduct of business. For information about relevant state laws, please consult an attorney.

Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. Copyrightable works include the following:

literary works

musical works, including any accompanying words

dramatic works, including any accompanying music

pantomimes and choreographic works

pictorial, graphic and sculptural works

motion pictures and other audiovisual works

sound recordings

architectural works

These categories should be viewed broadly. For example, computer code and many "compilations" may be registered as "literary works." Maps and architectural plans may be registered as "pictorial, graphic and sculptural works."

Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include, among others:

Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression. For example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded

Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans (see trademarks), familiar symbols or designs, variations on typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring, listings of ingredients or contents with no additional creative elements

Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship. For example, standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources

Copyright protection exists from the time the work is created in fixed form and immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright. In the case of works made for hire, the employer, not the employee, is considered to be the author.

The authors of a joint work are co-owners of the copyright unless there is an agreement to the contrary. Copyright in each separate contribution to a periodical or other collective work is distinct from copyright in the collective work as a whole and vests initially with the author of the contribution.

Two general principles:

Mere ownership of a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the possessor the copyright. The law provides that a mere transfer of ownership in a copy does not transfer the copyright

Minors may claim copyright, but state laws can regulate the business dealings of copyrights owned by minors

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